As we close out 2026, many credit unions are deep into next year’s planning cycle. But the truth is, whether it’s December of 2026 or any other point in the strategic calendar, the challenges surrounding sales goal setting are remarkably consistent. Goal setting has long been an area where credit unions tend to stumble. Too often, goals are built on a simple percentage increase over last year’s numbers—or worse, on what they believe their sales leaders won’t push back on. Rarely do they take an honest assessment of the credit union’s actual starting point and its real potential for growth.
When goals are set like this, the outcome is predictable. They are often seen as optional and confusing. As a result, many credit unions end up making a big fourth-quarter push to scramble for results and make bonuses. Other times, the credit union reaches the goals as part of normal and natural growth rather than focused effort, change, and improvement.
Regardless of what the calendar says, meaningful sales improvement requires a fundamentally different approach, one that rethinks how goals are created, reinforced, and connected to the value we aim to deliver to our members. That shift begins by abandoning the way the credit union has always set their goals and instead focusing on improving core performance and capturing the full opportunity presented to them.
Start with the 8 sales KPIs that tell the real story
Effective goal setting starts with measurement. Before setting any new targets, every credit union needs a clear picture of its current performance. Here are 8 sales KPIs that every credit union should be measuring to determine sales success and identify opportunities for improvement.
1. Net new checking accounts
Are you truly growing primary relationships, or simply providing whatever products and services your members request?
2. Net new credit cards
Are you capturing everyday spending and revolving credit needs, or leaving that wallet share to someone else?
3. Net new deposits
Is your deposit base growing in a way that supports lending demand and balance sheet stability?
4. Recaptured loan volume
How successfully are you identifying and refinancing loans your members currently have financed at other financial institutions?
5. Loan funding ratio
Of the approvable applications you’re seeing, how many are actually funding? Where in the process are you losing loan opportunities and potential credit union membership growth?
6. Assurance products penetration
Are members being offered and accepting payment protection products, GAP, and extended warranty that support their financial stability and reduce risk?
7. Products and services per household
How deep are your financial relationships with your members? Are you their primary financial partner or are you simply one financial relationship among many?
8. Referrals
Are employees consistently identifying opportunities and connecting members with the right experts within the credit union?
Together, these KPIs reveal the true health of your sales program. They highlight where growth is already happening and where opportunity is being left on the table.
A smart 2026 plan starts with two simple questions:
- Where are we today on each of these eight KPIs?
- Which two to four KPIs represent our greatest opportunity for improvement next year?
Not everything needs to change at once. Focus your wins.
Stop building goals around other credit unions
Benchmarking can be helpful. It can show you what’s possible, reveal trends, and spark ideas. But it becomes a distraction when you compare your credit union to others that are further along in their sales development—or those with built-in advantages, such as high-income SEG populations that naturally produce stronger deposit and savings performance.
Your markets, membership, product mix, staffing, and brand position are unique. Setting your goals around another credit union’s “X% penetration” or “Y% growth” is a great way to create frustration and burnout.
For example:
- If another credit union in your same market is opening 200 net new checking accounts per month and you’re opening 75, it doesn’t mean your goal should suddenly jump to 200.
- If another institution has far higher assurance product penetration, it doesn’t mean you can leap to their level in 12 months without investing in training, coaching, and process improvement.
Benchmarking should inform and inspire, not dictate.
The better question to ask is:
“Given where our eight KPIs are today, what does meaningful, realistic, supported improvement look like for our credit union in 2026?”
If you can beat your own 2025 performance across your chosen KPIs in a sustainable, member-centric way, you’re winning.
Set growth goals based on opportunity, not pressure
Once you’ve evaluated the eight KPIs and chosen your focus areas, you’re ready to set quantitative goals. This is where many credit unions skip straight to “bigger numbers” and call it strategy.
Instead, tie your quantitative goals directly to opportunity:
- Net new checking accounts: Instead of setting a broad goal to “grow total checking accounts,” focus on improving your monthly net growth. For example, if you currently average 80 net new checking accounts per month (opening 120 and closing 40), targeting a 50% reduction in closures and a modest 10% increase in new openings would raise monthly net growth from 80 to 112. That’s a fully supportable 40% increase—driven by realistic, targeted improvements that directly strengthen your overall checking portfolio.
- Net new deposits: Rather than saying, “We need to grow deposits by $20M,” use product data and member behavior to identify realistic growth in money markets, CDs, and core savings; reactivation of dormant checking accounts; and more direct deposits. With this information, set a targeted, data-informed deposit growth goal that focuses on real opportunity and on areas where deposits are being missed or lost.
- Recaptured loan volume: If you understand how much outside loan volume exists within your membership, you can better predict how much opportunity is just waiting to be captured compared to the new loan origination volume your team is producing. For example, if data supports that 50% of members have loans with other institutions, a goal could be set that 10% of all loan volume should be recaptured from other institutions. In this scenario, if the average loan officer closes $300,000 in loans each month, then $30,000 of that volume should come from recaptured loans.
- Assurance products penetration: If GAP insurance penetration is currently at 25% and staff rarely offer or confidently explain the products, increasing penetration to 30-40% with strong training and coaching is both ambitious and achievable.
Remember though, quantitative goals should be organizational, not individual quotas.
“Everyone needs to sell 10 new checking accounts every month” is lazy goal setting.
Organizational goals such as “Improve monthly net new checking account growth by 40%” or “Increase products and services per household from 2.1 to 2.6” bring the team together, encourage collaboration, and shift the focus to member value and process improvement.
Use qualitative goals to drive the behaviors that move the KPIs
Numbers tell you what is happening. Behaviors explain why it’s happening.
If you want to improve metrics like Net New Checking Accounts, Net New Deposits, Recaptured Loan Volume, or Assurance Products Penetration, you must define the specific behaviors that will make improvement possible. These behaviors become your qualitative goals, and they are the engine that drives every KPI.
Examples of qualitative goals that support each KPI:
Net new checking accounts
- We proactively work to retain all checking accounts before they are closed.
- When we identify an inactive checking account, we engage the member to help them resume regular use.
- We consistently offer and position the appropriate checking account during all new member openings and when assisting existing members without a current checking relationship.
Net new deposits
- When opening up new deposit accounts, we ask the member if they have savings balances at other financial institutions.
- We review every checking account to confirm whether direct deposit is set up, and offer assistance when it is not set up.
- When a member requests to close a savings account to move funds elsewhere, we take time to understand their reason and highlight the benefits of keeping their savings with the credit union.
Recaptured loan volume
- We review all loan applications to identify loans currently financed with other financial institutions, and recapture them when possible.
- When we see loan payments going to another lender, we initiate a recapture conversation to explore opportunities to save the member money.
Assurance products penetration
- We offer all assurance products on 100% of qualifying loans.
- We follow a sales approach that empowers the member to make a buying decision based on the value the product provides, not solely on its cost.
When these behaviors become consistent, the sales will follow. When they’re inconsistent, so is performance.
Ask: “What has to change for these goals to be realistic?”
This is the pivot point where many credit unions unintentionally set their teams up to fail.
If you want better results with any of these KPI’s, you must find the answers to the following questions:
- What skills are missing or underdeveloped?
- What processes are weak or nonexistent?
- What coaching and accountability will leaders provide?
- What tools and resources do employees need?
Improvement doesn’t happen just because you tell people, “We’re raising the bar.” It happens when you give them the right vision for excellence and equip them to reach it.
Build a supportive environment, not a pressure cooker, not a Laissez-Faire free-for-all
Members trust credit unions because they know they can expect advice, not sales pressure. Your internal culture needs to reflect that same principle.
A supportive sales environment includes:
- Clear expectations around behaviors and KPIs
- Regular coaching, not just performance reviews
- Recognition for doing the right things, not only for hitting big numbers
- Tools and training that make success achievable
- A consistent message from leadership that goals exist to help members—not to punish staff
When your people feel supported and equipped, they sell with confidence and authenticity. When they feel squeezed, they either push products or disengage.
A practical blueprint for 2026
Here’s a simple framework to develop sales goals for 2026:
- Measure your eight sales KPIs
- Choose two to four KPIs to prioritize for the coming year
- Set quantitative goals based on data and real opportunity
- Define the qualitative behaviors that will move those KPIs
- Identify what must change to make those goals achievable
- Provide training that equips salespeople for success
- Monitor and coach consistently throughout the year
By setting goals this way, you move beyond the cycle of chasing numbers that sound good but don’t change behavior. Instead, you build a roadmap that elevates your people, enhances the member experience, and aligns daily actions with long-term success. It shifts the culture from pressure to purpose, empowering teams to deliver real value.
The exciting part is what happens next. When leaders couple well-crafted goals with clear expectations, provide the right tools and resources, and coach with consistency, performance begins to rise naturally. Members feel more supported, employees feel more confident, and your credit union gains the momentum that fuels lasting growth. With the right goals in place, the future isn’t just brighter—it’s full of possibility.
